Research

Overview:

My research has focused on five areas of recent American
history: labor organizing, education, the American South, race relations,
and sexuality. My earliest research as a graduate student, focusing on organized
labor in Memphis and Charleston, can be found in Labor History and
the Avery Review (articles published in 2000). As a Research Associate
for the American Youth Policy Forum in Washington, DC, I co-edited several
reports on education initiatives that raise academic achievement for all kids
and especially for minority youth. My dissertation became a book entitled
I AM a Man! that the University of North Carolina Press published
in 2005. This book examined masculinity in the American civil rights movement.
After finishing my first book, I began to work with the Library of Congress
Veterans History Project and American Veterans for Equal Rights, conducting
interviews with gay and lesbian veterans of the US Armed Forces. This project became the book Ask & Tell (2007) and the exhibit "Out
Ranks" at the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco. My most recent book, Charleston in Black and White (2015), chronicled the evolution of race relations in my hometown after the civil rights movement. If you are interested in purchasing or learning more about my books, click on the images below.

For a complete list of publications and academic appointments,
see my curriculum vita.